F1 jealousy dredges up memories of USGPs gone by

So the new kid on our block, Edward Loh, is in Indianapolis to attend his first Formula;1 race. I'm jealous.Weeks after joining Motor Trend following four years at AutoWeek, I went to the first U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, then run in September. Though I was skeptical that turning the Indy infield into a real F1 venue would work, I bought the cheapest tickets available and watched it with friends Tim Bailey (who lives in suburban Indy) and Tom Trace (also a local back then) on a berm with views of turns 11 and 12.The venue initially seemed like a cheap idea, like running a local sports car race in the infield of a big-time oval on an off-week. It proved to be anything but second-rate. Although it rained for much of the weekend, the 2000 USGP drew F1's biggest crowd at the time. Thousands of Brazilians flew in to catch Ferrari's then-number two, Rubens Barrichello.Barrichello finished second to teammate Michael Schumacher, who went on to win four of the next six races there.Over the next five years, I attended as a guest of BMW, XM, and at Motor Trend's own suite. Tim, whose family has worked for many Indianapolis 500s (and is more of a roundy-round fan anyway) always came along, and we always had a great time, even at our last race live, the awful 2005 USGP, when a "tire issue" dropped out all the Michelin-shod cars. Tim dubbed it a "Formula Six" race, for the number of cars that actually ran. Schumi won that one, too. Road & Track motorsport editor Jim Hall was at the XM suite with us, decked out in Minardi regalia. He finally saw his team finish in the points.So it was easy to pass up the 2006 USGP. Not only because of the 2005 debacle, but also because I was busy making preparations for my October wedding (in which Tim was my best man). This year -- well, my wife won't see me for most of the rest of June, thanks to a couple overseas press events I'll be attending. And there's a lot of stuff to do in town. But Donna is starting to get into F1, kinda, and I think she might come along to my next USGP.Edward picked the right year to attend his first one, though. Schumi is retired, so young Mr. Loh will get to watch the new breed of drivers, like future World Champion Lewis Hamilton, but not Robert Kubica, whose first words after his scary Canadian GP crash last week were a Niki Lauda-esque, "Will I be able to race at Indianapolis?" Doctors have said no.My first USGP wasn't at Indianapolis. It was at the first Detroit F1 race in 1982. (The July issue of Motor Trend, incidentally, features a great selection of photos from AutoWeek managing editor Roger Hart's new book, "Postcards from Detroit," from his years as an AP photographer shooting that race.) I drove there with another friend, Tom Cesarz, in my dad's 1980 Mazda RX-7 (thanks, Dad, and Happy Father's Day) because my 1977 Triumph Spitfire couldn't be trusted for the 340-mile drive from Milwaukee. We bought the cheapest seats, which placed us at a hairpin at Cobo Hall. The only action there was drivers downshifting into first gear.Tom and I arrived in downtown Detroit while qualifying was finishing up on Saturday. As we climbed out of the RX-7, the only others on the street of this desolate, "Robocop" set were three well-fed, middle-aged autoworkers walking by. One spotted the Mazda's Wisconsin plate, "HMMMM7," and joked, "Uh, did you bring yer cow?" I made a mental note to place Detroit at the bottom of my list of places to live.Fourteen years later, I moved here from Washington, D.C. Three years after the Formula Six race at Indy, I'll be back.